Galway's immediate priority to boost squad morale following All-Ireland defeat was suitably addressed by a side cobbled together at the eleventh hour by team manager John O'Mahony at a rain-lashed Hyde Park yesterday.
O'Mahony's staunch belief in the depth of talent that exists in the Galway panel was truly put to the test, with only five of the All-Ireland team in action. The side also included six newcomers to this level of football.
O'Mahony told members of the media that had they brought their boots along they would have been in line for a starting place such was the uncertainty of the team selection 20 minutes before the start.
The Galway boss was, of course, joking, but he was serious when commenting on the excellent ability shown by the newcomers to fit in.
"I have always been convinced that the depth of talent in our panel is highly impressive and that is one of the main reasons behind my decision earlier this week to stay on as manager," commented O'Mahony.
Mountbellew teenager Derry O'Brien is at the head of O'Mahony's list of reserves poised for a regular place in the first 15. "He played for Jarlath's College last year and is an excellent prospect," said O'Mahony. O'Brien was introduced early in the second half and delivered almost immediately with a point.
Conditions were atrocious from the start and the teams were drenched to the skin before the throw in. Galway's midfield and defence gave early indications of authority and Roscommon were left knocking their heads off a solid stone wall defence whenever they got the ball into the last third of a waterlogged pitch.
Conditions that turned the ball into the proverbial bar of soap kept the scoring-rate down and Galway, despite their advantage in almost every line, had great difficulty in opening a worthwhile gap.
Galway were just about holding onto a narrow two-point lead in the 23rd minute when Roscommon's persistence paid off, their four-point rampage, created by Frankie Dolan and Conor Connolly, giving them the lead for the first time and a 0-6 to 0-4 interval advantage.
The industry and high-level second-quarter performances by Stephen Lohan, Conor Connolly, Garry Cox, Francie Grehan and Frankie Dolan gave rise to excellent secondhalf possibilities for Roscommon.
This Roscommon threat, however, only served to shock the young lions in the Galway side into more positive action and they had regained the lead by the seventh minute of the second session as Joe Bergin and Fergal Gavin resumed midfield control.
Roscommon's inability to find a way through a Galway defence, buttressed by five-star displays from all six positions in front of Martin McNamara, again became apparent and their scoring-rate slumped badly. Ultimately, Galway won the second half by 1-10 to five points.
Johnny Tobin, at the Roscommon helm for the first time, could not coax a winning display from his new charges simply because, as he put it, "we couldn't match their fitness levels and this was only to be expected given that all of the Galway lads playing today had been involved in training with the All-Ireland side".
Roscommon had not been together in a serious competitive sense since losing out to Leitrim in the championship. Laying the ball off in laboured attacking moves on the slippery surface tended to worsen their problems.
Galway, always looking the more streetwise side with the better understanding, delivered the coup de grace by transforming a one-point advantage into a winning six-point lead in a golden three-minute spell starting with Derry O'Brien's second point in the 55th minute.
A snap goal by Paul Clancy followed when he got his fist to a beautifully weighted sideline ball by Ken Naughton. Clancy followed up with a classy point and Roscommon were suddenly staring their fate in the face.
Moving Lohan forward in a swap with substitute Seamus O'Neill only yielded a point by the Kilbride midfielder and another academic point from Conor Connolly.
GALWAY: M McNamara; T Meehan, K Fitzgerald, K Collins; M Colleran, T Joyce, L Colleran (0-2); J Bergin (0-1), F Gavin; K Naughton (0-1), P Clancy (1-2), K Comer (0-3, one free); N Meehan (0-3), T Carton, M Newell. Subs: D O'Brien (0-2) for Newell (41 mins).
ROSCOMMON: D Thompson; D Gavin, K Keane, G Mockler; M Ryan, B Bourke, P Noone; D Casserly, S Lohan (0-2); C Connolly (0-2), F Grehan, J Hanley; G Cox (0-2), N Dineen, F Dolan (0-5 three frees). Subs: M Rafferty for Bourke (25 mins), F O'Donnell for Hanley (47), S O'Neill for Dineen (55), R O'Callahan for Dolan (67).
Referee: C Broderick (Down).
